lima time

Chillin at Plaza de Armas in downtown Lima. Que bonito!

George Herbert Walker Bush: 41st president of the united states of America.  San Luis/miraflores, Lima, Peru: 41st dot on our map of south American destinations.  What's the connection?  Everything.

George HW Bush is a Texas man.  He probably employs, or at least knows, some Mexicans.  Mexicans speak Spanish.  Lima is in Peru.  Peru's most predominantly spoken language (though Quechua and a few other native languages have wide popularity amongst certain sectors of society) is Spanish. Coincidence?  I think not.

George HW Bush hangs with Saudi sheiks.  Saudi Arabia is an influential member of OPEC.  OPEC's smallest member nation is Ecuador.  Ecuador borders Peru and has around 13 million people, a million or so less than live in Lima.  Close, very close.

George's wife is named Barbara.  Our friends were kind enough to set us up with a member of their family to stay with for a few days in Lima.  She went by the name of Silvia.  Silvia and Barbara would be fast friends.  Big smiles, but manage to incite the fear of sin with just one little nod.

George on the other hand seems dark and broody.  As former head of the CIA he holds an air of the sinister.  Lima couldn't be described any better.  It's constantly dark, gloomy and overcast, made more frustrating by its proximity to the coast.  Not to mention the smog spit from every bus, car and moped, which makes Limas air look like a constant battery of self-immolating tires.  It also has a significant darker side.  With a clear and present and wide distribution of wealth, it's no wonder crime is the second biggest problem to...

Impotence.  Wait, that's  Bob Dole.  George does own Hope Ranch though (or something Prairie, but hope works better for this particular example), a bastion of peace and prosperity in the middle of the wide, barren Texas desert.  Lima has its own Hope Ranch in Miraflores.  A center of touristic ecstasy.  Filled with classy restaurants, American fast food, clean, paved and clearly delineated steets, it is a safe haven of western ideals.  The apex of which is a cliffside, real estate tycoon's dream, mall with Tony Romas, TGIFridays, Chilis and an abundance of western-like retailers.  Western commercialism thriving in the overriding misery that is Lima.  Hope Ranch indeed.

Needless to say we spent five days in Lima, just one more than the amount of years HW spent in office.  It wasn't all bad, but I definitely wouldn't choose to repeat it.  
  

The Peruvian White House. Geoerge HW never lived here. 

Some people with more money than us paragliding.

Poor Wilbur.

Real estate agent´s wet dream... The mall on the coast in Miraflores.

Dancing like a jellyfish to Jack Johnson.